Homegrown Day 3 recap: Crowd surfing and mall culture

Alamode is part-phenomenon, part-curiousity. The pop band formerly known as Play Date (blah blah blah, a long story about a serious-sounding cease and desist letter) has discovered some sort of sequins-and-synth magic with its fresh take on a retro sound. Not quite disco. Not quite yacht rock — but kind of. A lot of this is Nathan Holte in a shiny shirt — at least until he starts shedding layers — flashing grins and dancing like he's the earthly vessel for the ghost of Michael Hutchence. Meanwhile, vocally, covering Prince would be too obvious.

Do these guys — Peter Knutson (guitar), Rio Daugherty (drums), Alex Piazza (bass), Ned Netzel (keys) — know that this area has a reputation for being beard and banjo land? Does this area know it has a reputation for being beard and banjo land? Not during an Alamode show, where these guys give a performance that would be remarkable even if it wasn't in front of their friends, and in return they're given a sort of ooey-gooey, mobbed at the mall, rock star treatment. It's all just so freaking fun.